COVID-19 in care homes (VIVALDI) [COVID-19] [UPH]
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding SARS-CoV-2 infection, immunity and its duration in care home staff and residents in the UK (VIVALDI STUDY)
IRAS ID
284545
Contact name
Laura Shallcross
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Z6364106/2020/05/83, UCL Data Protection Office registration
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 3 days
Research summary
The aim of this study is to estimate how many care home staff and residents have already been infected with COVID-19 infection using data from over 100 care homes, and to investigate which features of the residents and the care homes made past infection more likely. Elderly people, and those in care homes in particular, are at significant risk of catching COVID-19, and being admitted to hospital or dying from infection. This is likely to be caused by frequent close contact between residents and staff, and other factors related to the care home setting which are not well understood. In England, we do not know how many care staff and residents are infected with COVID-19 now, or have been infected in the past and whether people who have been infected once are protected from future infections. We also do not know the most effective way to prevent infection from spreading in care homes. This study will look at these questions in staff and residents of Four Seasons care homes; a nationwide group of over 100 care homes. We will seek informed consent to participate from all residents and staff and will ask relatives to consent on behalf of residents who lack capacity. We will collect nose/throat swabs to test who is infected right now, and blood tests to find out who has been infected in the past. These tests will be repeated in a subset of all participants over the next 6-12 months to understand how these results change over time. We will also find out what measures care homes are taking to prevent infection spreading, and what works best. This is the largest study in care homes in England and will help plan the national response to COVID-19.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/SC/0238
Date of REC Opinion
29 May 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion